


Ne'er Shall Be Parted

by AlannaofRoses



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Mentioned Bruce Wayne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 09:47:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20062024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlannaofRoses/pseuds/AlannaofRoses
Summary: Bruce returns to take his place as Gotham's protector, but there are some things that he cannot claim. Jason and Tim have to find a way to protect what had been built in his absence.





	Ne'er Shall Be Parted

‘Dick needs you.’

Jason blinked at his phone. Things had gotten better between him and his brothers, certainly, but even so Tim didn’t usually text him unless there was a Bat-related reason. 

‘Please Jason.’

Now Jason was worried. Was Dick hurt? Why would Tim ask Jason, of all people, for help even if he were? Sure, it had been Dick who had reached out to him, brought him back into the fold, helped Jason see past rage and revenge and death. But that truth was still tentative at best. And Alfred was the family doctor. Or Leslie, if it was really bad. 

‘What’s going on?’ Jason typed back one-handed, already reaching for his motorcycle helmet.

‘Bruce’

He ought to have known.

‘He… Jason, I’ve never seen him like this before. He’s wrecked, and Bruce didn’t… he took Batman and Robin back.’

It took a moment for Jason to work out the muddled pronouns, and another to work out the actual issue. They’d all known Bruce would take back Batman. It was onlt a matter of time. Dick had even been happy about it, last Jason had heard. That wasn’t the issue. 

Robin. 

Damian. 

‘Jason please hes headed back to Bludhaven and ive gotta take care of D.’

Tim was really upset if he was losing punctuation. 

‘I’ll take care of him, baby bird.’

‘Thank you.’

Jason slipped his phone in his pocket and unlocked his bike. A part of him was shaking in rage, but Jason carefully locked it down. He could be furious at Bruce later. Bruce, who never could see what was right in front of him. Bruce, who had left them all reeling for a year and then come right back and tried to step into a place that was no longer there for him, as if they would just all fall back in line behind him, as if they hadn’t learned to live without him. 

Jason didn’t need any details to envision the scene. Bruce, fresh from his supposed grave, facing off against Dick, exhausted from a year of carrying the world on his shoulders. Bruce would have given his orders, relieved Dick of Batman, of Wayne Enterprises, of his Justice League responsibilities. Dick would have gotten lighter and lighter as each burden was lifted from him. But then Bruce had taken something Dick hadn’t wanted to give up. 

Robin. Damian. His son. And Bruce, blind to the year he had missed, would see this too as the alleviation of a burden. Dick would have seen it as the taking back of a precious gift. There would have been yelling. Screaming as Dick tried to explain that Damian was not some duty to be passed off. Then a cold, hard voice as Bruce informed Dick of what was best for Damian. To be with his father. And Dick would have stopped. 

Bruce had that power, had always had that power, and now, maybe especially now, with the relief of having Bruce back, of being relieved of such heavy burdens, Dick would have believed. Believed that he was being selfish, that Bruce was really what was best for Damian, that Dick couldn’t keep apart a father and son who had already lost too much time.

But that was bull. Bruce was Damian’s father, but Dick had raised the boy. Had molded him into Robin. Damian trusted him and Dick loved the kid with all his heart. Yes, of course Bruce and Damian needed to bond, to explore their relationship. But not at the expense of the only positive role model Damian had ever had. Not at the price of Dick’s heartbreak.

And now Dick was heading to Bludhaven, leaving his precious kiddo behind, tearing his own heart from his chest because Bruce had convinced him it was the right thing to do. 

Jason’s bike couldn’t move fast enough as he reached the outskirts of Bludhaven, Dick’s beloved city rising in all its ugly glory before him. Thankfully, traffic was light, and he swung his bike into the lot of Dick’s apartment not much later. He tugged off the helmet as his hurried up the stairs, taking a moment to remember Dick’s apartment number. Dick had kept up on his rent in case whoever was patrolling Bludhaven for him needed a safehouse, but he had rarely been here while he was playing Batman in Bruce’s stead. 

The door yielded to him, the special key Dick had given him unlocking both the door and the security system. The room beyond was dark and silent. For a moment, Jason felt his heart stop in his chest, envisioning a desperate search for a grieving Dick. A moment later, his eyes adjusted to the faint light from the open window, and he saw the figure motionless on the couch.

“Dick.” Jason breathed, fumbling for a light switch. Dick didn’t even blink as the florescents flooded the room. He was sitting on the couch like a normal human being. It was terrifying.

“Dickiebird.”

Slowly, ever so slowly, Dick’s head turned towards Jason. His eyes were blank. Jason claimed not to have much of a heart left but whatever was still there was now utterly shattered.

“Dickie.” He moved slowly, as non-threateningly as possible. “Talk to me.” He begged. Grief and rage and pain Jason had been prepared for, but not this utter silence. It was wrong. 

He reached the couch, Dick’s eyes following him sluggishly as he knelt in front of his older brother. “What happened, Dick?”

There was a moment that stretched into eternity. Then, so quietly Jason had to strain to hear, “He took Damian.” 

Dick’s voice was a wreck, as if all the pain his body couldn’t show was been forced through his vocal cords. 

“Tim told me.”

“It’s for the best.” Dick wouldn’t look at him. “Damian is his son. He wants to be Batman. Damian needs him. It’s for the best.”

Just as Jason had expected. “Dickiebird. I know what Damian wanted before this whole mess started. But Bruce was gone. Things changed. Dick, Bruce is Damian’s father. And you’re right, Damian needs him. But he needs you too, idiot. You were Damian’s first Batman. Bruce coming back can’t change that, regardless of what he thinks. You know that kid better than anyone. And until Bruce and Damian form their own relationship, until they trust each other as partners the way you and Damian already do, the best thing for Damian isn’t Bruce. It’s you.”

Dick’s eyes flared wide with pain. Jason reached up for his brother as Dick’s whole face collapsed, pinching and crumbling as he tried to hold himself together. But Jason just pulled Dick into his broad chest, cradling him as Dick shattered apart in his arms. Wracked with sobs, the elder grieved in a way Jason suspected he’d denied himself since the day he’d buried his father and took up the raising of a boy he barely knew. If Jason ever found the power who had decided that Dick Grayson had to continually suffer this pain of loss over and over again, Jason would forget all about Bruce’s rules once and for all. 

Because Dick just took it. Rolled with the punches, got back up again, and kept going. Rebuilt himself over and over after every tragedy. Jason couldn’t help wondering how much the original Boy Wonder was supposed to bear before he broke completely. 

Dick eventually quieted, more from exhaustion than a true lessening of grief. They were crumpled weirdly against the couch, Dick limp across Jason’s lap with his head tucked into Jason’s shoulder. Jason stroked a hand through Dick’s dark curls as the man shuddered through the aftershocks of his emotions. 

Jason’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he paused his ministrations long enough to dig it out of his pocket. The text that lit up his screen made his lip curl in pleased satisfaction. There were a million things he couldn’t fix for Dick, but between him and Tim, they could put this one to rights at least. 

‘Come in.’ Jason typed back.

The door to Dick’s apartment clicked open.

Dick flinched in Jason’s hold and Jason quickly reassured him. “Easy, Dickie. It’s just…”

“Grayson?”

Dick went stiff and still. His wide eyes met Jason’s, desperate hope reflected in teary depths. Jason just smiled at him and loosed his hold so Dick could twist around to face the open doorway. 

Damian stared back at them, Tim hovering over his shoulder and the four boys regarded each other. Damian’s eyes were red, and Jason had to take a deep breath to rein in his anger once more. 

“Dami?”

Jason winced. Dick sounded worse than before. His voice was nearly gone, breaking over the two short syllables. Damian’s mouth trembled at the sound.

“What are you doing here Dami? I thought…”

“I was informed…” Damian stopped swallowed, “Drake told me that you… he said you didn’t leave because you didn’t… you didn’t want me anymore.”

Damian had been staring at his feet as he tried to force the words out, but his eyes flew up in alarm as Dick made a terrible choked sound. Tim moved forwards compulsively at his brother’s obvious distress, but Jason shook his head. 

Jason stopped himself, with monumental effort, from curling around Dick in comfort and forced himself to meet Damian’s eyes instead.

“Damian, trust me when I say there’s nothing in the world Dickie wants more than you right now, kiddo.”

“Come here Dami, please.” and Dick was crying again but it didn’t matter because Damian was too as he darted across the room. Jason dumped Dick out of his lap just in time for the eldest to catch the youngest as Damian all but threw himself into Dick’s waiting arms. 

Bruce could disapprove all he wanted. Jason didn’t care. Bruce hadn’t been there, hadn’t seen the way Dick had turned the impossible task of reuniting his children into a reality. They were a family now, and god help anyone - Bruce included - who tried to break them apart now.

Jason moved to Tim and pulled the younger boy to him, letting him burying his own tears into Jason’s shirt as behind them Dick murmured love and reassurance into Damian’s hair. And if Jason had to blink a little harder himself, well, there was only family here to see it.

**Author's Note:**

> Just to be clear, Bruce is Damian's father and I'm glad that they get time to explore that relationship. I just wish it wasn't at the expense of what Dick and Damian had been through together, as brothers and partners. All that to say, I don't think Bruce is the bad guy here. He just hasn't been around to see what Dick and Damian are to each other. 
> 
> So yeah! I've been on a roll with Dick Grayson-centric fics lately. I'll try to get more posted as soon as I can, but they are handwritten so I need to type them up first. Comment below if you have a prompt, trope, or relationship you'd like to see me do! No promises, as the muse can be very fickle, but I'd enjoy hearing your ideas.


End file.
